Davis went speechless.
What was Azariel's age?
He knew it was twelve, but his gaze was already turning pink, being attracted by beauties as he initially feared.
He knew puberty was hard. It hit hard.
He also had some trouble dealing with it twice. The first one was mild since he didn't have knowledge of the other gender, but the second one was intense, making him imagine strange things with Ellia while they were still teenagers, so he distanced himself from her, leading her to feel sad and was later taken over by Myria before they could come to terms with their friendship.
Regardless, he knew there was nothing one could do to stop hormones other than keep their minds numb.
But he doubted Azariel was capable of keeping himself in a disciplined state.
He was a Young Master with his father having enough riches to rule a Lower Realm or two. How could he ask to be suppressed?
By this time, if Azariel had been born in the Loret Family, he would've had his own personal maid whom he would've shared his first time with already and become experienced. Therefore, he supposed he had been suppressing their rights even if the so-called right to have a personal maid at that age for a dubious purpose was wrong to begin with.
Still, he didn't forget to understand the underlying cause.
'I see… he thinks being with a lot of beauties is wrong due to the teachings he was imparted in education but secretly admires me for having so many beauties and wants to emulate me…'
Davis supposed it was his fault.
He didn't set an example of only having three wives, so there was nothing to follow. He should've known his sons would want to naturally emulate him and bask in glory.
He turned to look at Lucian, wondering if he also wanted the same, but as though knowing he was being asked, he vehemently shook his head.
Davis couldn't help but inwardly laugh. His Lucian was the polar opposite of Azariel, perhaps because he had gone through a life of torture from his childhood with his Solar Apocalypse Physique. Davis supposed he would be satisfied with one wife, much less three.
But returning his gaze, he knew Azariel was different.
He wouldn't be satisfied without what his father obtained or reached- because he was the first son. Otherwise, he would feel he would never be able to prove himself to be his father's son. There was a much bigger burden of performance placed on him just because he was the first son.
If others didn't say it, he would be able to feel it, the gazes of adoration and expectation- that he would shine as bright as his father in the future.
Still, Davis knew Azariel would die than confess like this, so he guessed this fiasco started when Lucian became more powerful.
He could tell Azariel felt lacking compared to Lucian and that exacerbated his feeling of wanting to secretly shine, further pushing him away from cultivation and towards beauties. If he couldn't get adoration from others using cultivation, then he would naturally go elsewhere.
Even without using Heart Intent, Davis guessed correctly.
Azariel felt lacking a lot and he was already losing the competition with Lucian at the forefront, propelled by his Solar Apocalypse Physique. How could he hope to catch up to someone whose explosive cultivation speed had already brought him to the Immortal King Stage while still being twelve?
It was insane.
Moreover, Azariel had recently seen his father still not lose to Lucian's ridiculous prowess.
How could he ever hope to catch up?
It formed a sense of inferiority in him, and although he was still blindly confident, he wanted to feel happy presently, and the adoration the other ladies gave him more than compensated for the sadness he felt, so when his father denied him that, he started insulting him back as a form of retaliation but still wanted his love and adoration.
Now, he was like a cat, huddled in his father's embrace and hoping that he would be understood with tears in his eyes, waiting to fall.
'You did well not to hamper Lucian's cultivation using devious methods, my son.'
Davis caressed Azariel's hair with affection. He didn't say it outright but thought. After all, it was so easy to harm Lucian. Just change one pill, and boom- Lucian's cultivation might go berserk and would receive a setback.
However, Azariel didn't do something like that. Clearly, the teachings that one must never harm their family was at play here but with how calculating Azariel was, he felt grateful that he didn't take that path.
"Azariel," Davis finally opened his mouth, "Being surrounded by beauties is not a good thing."
"…?" Azariel looked confused.
"You have to be aware that if you give your heart away, any woman can bring you down. By having beauties around me, I'm always at risk, more vulnerable than you expect I would be."
"Then why-"
"Because I trust them to the core," Davis said as though it was a matter of fact.
"…"
"Tell me, would you be able to trust the beauties around you? Can you say they weren't around you to take advantage of your kindness and glory?"
"…"
"If you want fake adoration, go ahead and surround yourself with beauties. There's nothing to gain other than a sense of emptiness that would propel you forward to the next soulless thing there is to devour."
"…" Azariel's eyes went wide.
His lips quivered as he felt like his father understood him. He did feel this emptiness that he wanted to fill. However, he was just twelve. He didn't even know what it was before, but as his father said, he came to have an inkling.
Davis caressed Azariel's head, smiling, "I'm not saying that it's bad, but select the women you want to be with some prudence and foresight. You need to be able to tell that if they would have your back at all times. Of course, this is not to say that selfish women are bad women. I'm saying that even if they are selfish, they need to have you as their priority. Would you find such women? I don't know but I did, nearly thirty of them and perhaps more. However, if I was like you- trying to get adoration from nearly all women just for filling that emptiness- then my harem would be at three thousand instead of thirty. At that point, I wouldn't care about any beauties, would I?"
"Would you want to be like that?" Davis raised his brows, asking with a strong tone.
"No…"
Azariel shook his head. He wanted to feel the adoration, but he also wanted to return it, like how his father spends time with his mothers. He could tell that they were smitten with him, not taking their eyes off him if he was in the room.
"Then you now know how to conduct yourself around women, don't you? Your primal yang essence is very important but who you choose to love for the first time is way more important. Don't give them away for nothing."
Azariel nodded thrice.
He seemed to have understood, causing Davis to smile.
"I and your mothers only have your well-being in our hearts. If we try to stop you from doing something, then it's for your own good. We don't want you to feel despair later on in life. The first love pretty much determines half your character for the subsequent years or even the rest of your life, my child."
Davis ruffled Azariel's blonde hair again, causing the latter to laugh. His tears also dried, and he became embarrassed, trying to push Davis away, but Davis still held him.
Azariel fumed.
Now, he felt like everyone was going to laugh at him. However, knowing this was his chance, he looked at his father.
"So, no more than three women?
"…"
Davis went speechless again. The others were also the same.
"What a good like father like son moment~" Mingzhi burst laughing.
Her laughter elicited more to join in on the fun.